Three Months

Smiles

Dimentio was able to sneak back in and fall asleep in his bed, making sure to keep the window open so the sun could wake him up when it rose. He didn't have an alarm clock or anything, but he hoped the morning light would be enough to prevent him from sleeping away one of his last days. Most of the time the sunlight was enough to wake him.

He wasn't quite sure what time it was when he woke up the next morning but looking out the window he could see that it was already nearly mid-day because of the positioning of the sun. However, he didn't have time to kick himself for sleeping in. He didn't have time to be upset. 

He instead got dressed and ready as fast as he could, putting Luigi's jacket on over everything, even though it wasn't quite cold enough to be wearing a jacket, and carefully walking down the stairs, trying to ignore how hard it was now.

Each and every step felt like a challenge, and it took all his focus not to collapse and fall. He felt too dizzy and weak. He almost wanted to go back to sleep, but he knew he couldn't do that.

As soon as he got down the steps, he saw that Mario and Luigi were sitting at the dining room table, eating lunch. He let out a small sigh of relief, then sat down with them, looking to see what they cooked. It was grilled cheese with tomato soup on the side. A little simple, but Dimentio wasn't complaining. Simple foods were all his stomach could seem to handle.

"Oh, hey!" Luigi chimed, casually. Dimentio was silently grateful that he seemed to be acting as if nothing happened, thank goodness. Mario was sitting across from Dimentio. His eyes did briefly flicker to him, but then he continued looking down, still acting as if he was afraid of making eye contact. 

"Greetings," Dimentio muttered, taking one grilled cheese sandwich and splitting it in half, knowing that was likely all he'd be able to eat.

As Dimentio ate, Mario briefly looked up at Luigi, nodding forward as if he was silently saying, "Well? Are you gonna do it?"

Luigi simply smiled and shook his head no, looking at Dimentio and asking, "Are you only eating half of that?"

"My stomach hurts," Dimentio replied casually. 

Luigi shrugged, deeming that a fair excuse, then continued eating his own sandwich.

"Well, I could get you some painkillers. I'm going out to town anyway-"

"I want to go," Dimentio stated.

Luigi stopped talking, looking at Dimentio with a confused expression. "Huh?" he asked.

"To town. I want to go." Dimentio repeated with a straight face. Luigi continued to blankly stare at Dimentio, wondering why Dimentio would suddenly want to go to town, especially since he had been so careful to avoid it this entire time.

"Why?" Luigi asked.

"Well, I'm leaving soon and I... I don't know, I wanted to see the town before I left."

Luigi then looked at Mario, as if he would hold the answers. The man in red simply shrugged then stood up, taking his plate and walking into the kitchen so he could wash it. "Sure, why not? Luigi, could you come in here for a second?"

Luigi sighed and picked up his own plate, allowing Dimentio to finish his food. But this more so gave Dimentio the chance to place the rest of the half of his sandwich under the table so Polterpup could eat it.

"What is it-" Luigi started, walking into the kitchen when Mario suddenly grabbed his arm and lowered his own voice to a low whisper.

"Listen, he's leaving soon. So you don't have time to 'figure things out,'" Mario started, using air quotes with his free hand. "You have to tell him and make him stay. You can't be silent and blow this, Luigi."